Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS 7.0+: Poverty and Social Issues ( Part 4)

The IELTS exam will require the aspirants to use appropriate vocabulary words in IELTS Writing and Speaking. It is important to get acquainted with the required vocabulary words to score more.

Poverty and Social Issues (Part 4)

Poverty in Developing World

(A) Select an appropriate word from the box below to fill each gap. Use each word once only and do not change the form.

Much of the developing world is caught in a(n) 1. ______ of sorts, battling to overcome the psychological and physical scars of the near past – of, in many cases, colonial or 2. ______ rule – while at the same time oddly 3.______ about making the changes necessary to 4. ______ a better future. In many cases, the sums don t add up; large parts of Africa and Latin America, for example, are resource-rich and 5. ______ well-positioned to make their mark in the 21^st century, but, alas, there is something holding them back. For some, the source of the problem lies very high up indeed; in corrupt and/or unstable governments, which typically rule for the privileged few while the 6. ______ many struggle on in 7. _______ . Others are ravaged by years or even decades of tribal war and 8. ______, and yet more have simply been the victims of misfortune – the wrath of Mother Nature, for example, which has unleashed drought, famine and, at times, utter 9. ______ on the hapless masses of much of Sub-Saharan Africa over the years.

But, whatever about the 10. _______ causes, the results are as clear as day. A lack of access to education and medical care has left many countries ravaged by diseases by and large under control in the West. Think the AIDS epidemic; that immunity-crippling terminal illness that much of Africa is still struggling to get a handle on. Factors like poor sanitation, malnutrition, poor or a total lack of access to clean water, high rates of violent crime and civil 11. ______ all play their part and contribute to the 12. _______ reality on the ground; high infant 13. _______ rates, low life expectancy, joblessness, substance abuse, 14. _______ , benightedness; the situation for many is dire. Where, in the West, when we talk about poverty, we do so in relative terms, here, poverty is 15. _______. The poverty line is not drawn to distinguish those who can maintain a good standard of living from those struggling to do so, but rather it underlines the difference between life and death; the struggle to exist just long enough to welcome in another tomorrow.

(B) The words below are synonyms of or similar in meaning to the answer choices for exercise A. Write each answer choice from exercise A next to its synonym(s) below.

(C) Match the words in Column A with their strongest collocates in Column B.

(D) Use the answers from exercise C above to fill in the gaps in the sentences below.

1. The government has sanctioned the sending of _____ to the areas worst affected by the conflict.
2. The _____ are thought to have lost considerable ground in the exchange today, and now look unlikely to threaten the capital.
3. The girl died after her parents chose to take her to a(n) ______ rather than a hospital where she could get the medical care she so badly needed.
4. He is a(n) ______ who stokes up hatred with his inflammatory speeches about the evils of Christendom.
5. A(n) ______ was set up just across the border in Turkey to give those fleeing the conflict area shelter and access to basic essentials.
6. The U.S. is demanding ______ and has pledged to support the people of the country should they rise up in arms against their leaders.
7. As yet, no form of ______ has been agreed, so the country remains in the ludicrous position of having to make crippling repayments while the people on the ground starve.
8. ______ is thought to have been the catalyst for the latest conflict, which is less about land than identity.
9. The U.S. called it a(n) ______, but Syria says it acted with restraint and in accordance with international law in self-defense.
10. The country’s ______ has been more or less completely destroyed as a result of this long-running conflict – it will take years to rebuild.
11. Contrary to predictions that there would be a massive ______, the group of asylum speakers have assimilated perfectly into the local community.

Answer Key

Poverty in Developing World

(A)

1. limbo
2. despotic
3. hesitant
4. safeguard
5. ostensibly
6. subservient
7. squalor
8. corruption
9. devastation
10. underlying
11. unrest
12. disheartening
13. mortality
14. indigence
15. absolute

(B)

1. underlying
2. devastation
3. squalor
4. despotic
5. mortality
6. absolute
7. hesitant
8. corruption
9. subservient
10. safeguard
11. limbo
12. disheartening
13. indigence
14. ostensibly
15. unrest

(C)

a) ii

b) xi

c) i

d) x

e) iv

f) vii

g) vi

h) viii

i) iii

j) v

k) ix

(D)

1. financial aid
2. rebel fighters
3. witch doctor
4. religious zealot
5. refugee camp
6. regime change
7. debt relief
8. Racial tension
9. war crime
10. physical infrastructure

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